Who will be the sole survivor?
Not that the sole survivor thing is in play this year, but whomever is left standing at the conclusion of each match is usually a good indicator of who will be a main event star for WWE in the future. It’s not always the case, i.e. Dolph Ziggler circa 2014, but more often than not it’s an indicator for long-term success. So what will Survivor Series 2016 bring? Let’s wildly speculate!
1) Why do you think WWE had Dolph Ziggler drop the Intercontinental Title back to The Miz just a few days before one of their biggest Pay Per Views, Surivor Series?
Corey: I gotta admit that that title change shocked me. I honestly don’t know what logic they were using. I can’t imagine they did that to have Sami Zayn beat the Miz to bring the title to Raw mainly because Raw already has the US title and to have two second-tier belts on one show wouldn’t make any sense. Personally when it comes to a match with no real build up between the stars I would have preferred to see Sami Zayn vs Dolph Ziggler instead of Sami Zayn vs The Miz.
Josh: I think there’s a really good chance this match turns into a triple threat or fatal-four way. It gets Miz on the card which he totally deserves to be and in storyline Daniel Bryan could decide Ziggler deserves to be in the match then Stephanie McMahon chimes in and says well we need another superstar as well then too, and in goes Rusev. It was definitely shocking and perhaps it was just as simple as doing something shocking for the lead-in to Survivor Series.
2) NXT Takeover: Toronto is this Saturday. Do you have any predictions?
Corey: This is actually a pretty nice card. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe for another outing will definitely be a good match where Nakamura is most likely going to get the win. What I’m really looking forward to is Asuka vs Mickie James, which I’m definitely calling Asuka for the win but hopefully the two will have a good 15 to 20 minute go. The Revival vs DIY for the NXT Tag Team Championship will definitely be great and I really hope that DIY can get the job done because those guys are amazing. The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is set to end with Authors of Pain vs TM-61. Authors of Pain have this and I can’t wait until they finish fine tuning in NXT and get brought up to the main roster.
Josh: Match of the night will be Samoa Joe vs Shinsuke Nakamura, with Nakamura retaining the title. I’m doing a down the road prediction and saying Samoa Joe will be one of the surprise entrants for the upcoming Royal Rumble. I’ll also take Bobby Roode over Tye Dillinger in what will be one of the best technical matches we’ve seen in a long time. It’s going to be a great event and the perfect appetizer before we hit the main course on Sunday.
3) Do you think the Cruiserweight Division would be better on Smackdown?
Corey: As of this moment, yes. Ever since they were brought over to Raw after the CWC the Cruiserweight division just hasn’t built any momentum. I’ll blame a small part of that on the boring champion they had for a while, TJ Perkins, but for the most part it’s because of booking and lack of establishing talent. If Kalisto can bring the division over to Smackdown it would definitely help build them up as well, especially since Smackdown doesn’t have anywhere near that amount of big names that Raw has so it will be easier to build them on the blue brand.
Josh: No, but only because of time. Raw is a logical spot for the Cruiserweights because of the extra hour of broadcast. Not with the 205Live show I think will go a long way to getting the talent over, but we also have to remember that just because people watch Raw or Smackdown does not mean they watch the content on the Network. It’s why we’re still sitting through WWE Network commercials on both programs because they know the market hasn’t saturated yet. Sorry, got off on a tangent. Anyway, that extra hour of Raw doesn’t exist on Smackdown and there’s a chance that the Cruiserweights would just be squeezed out of main programming. On Raw they have to be showcased because they literally need to fill that extra tv time.
4) TNA has been circling the drain for a while now but it seems like they have come to an agreement with Billy Corgan in regards to his settlement. But if TNA does end up closing their doors sometime soon is there anyone or group of people that you would love to see in WWE or back in WWE?
Corey: At the current time the only thing I would like to see is Broken Matt and Jeff.
Josh: I was kind of bummed when James Storm didn’t sign on full-time with NXT so it would be good to see him back. Aron Rex, better known as Damian Sandow, would be good to have back on the roster and actually do something with. And of course I think everyone, including me, has warmed to Broken Matt and Jeff so if those characters were just transported to WWE and feuding with the New Day I think we’d all be pretty happy about it.
5) Undertaker made his return this week at the 900th episode of Smackdown and said that he “Will not be defined by Wrestlemania anymore.” Do you think that means he’s going to be back full time or part time?
Corey: With his age I hope not. He has one, MAYBE two WrestleManias left in him. Hopefully it’s just for storyline purposes, but I definitely don’t see a reason why he should be wrestling full time again.
Josh: What’s the halfway point of full time and part time? Partly-full time? It’s whatever that is. I think Undertaker wants one more story driven run and there’s some very interesting possibilities. The nice thing is that in today’s wrestling landscape he doesn’t have to wrestle every week. He could be a fixture in the main event scene and only wrestle maybe one match on television before doing a PPV. And come now, who doesn’t want to see AJ Styles take on the Undertaker for the WWE World Championship?
Additional Notes:
Corey:
– Enzo and Big Cass vs American Alpha is going to be an amazing match, but I definitely want Enzo and Cass to win.
– Cedric Alexander vs Andrade Cien Almas at this weeks NXT show was dope. If Cedric can couple his ring work with some good promos this man will definitely be a star.
– This year’s Dusty Rhodes Classic seemed to suffer a little bit due to injuries but it’s still good none the less. I really just wish we could have seen more from Hideo Itami before he got injured again.
Josh:
– The NXT TakeOvers are always fun shows, if you haven’t watched one yet then do yourself a favor and check them out. It’s also great to speculate on who the next call-up is going to be.
– I’m glad they rediscovered what makes Survivor Series great and it’s not just the traditional Survivor Series, but the strange allies it creates.
– The WWE Twitter and Instagram have been on point with these Survivor Series bits, some of these teams they’re pulling up I had no idea were a thing. Might need to do a deep dive on old Survivor Series matches to get ready for Sunday.
Corey Stewart
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